Ready, set, tempranillo!

Wednesday

When a meal calls for a big, bold red wine, most people reach for a bottle of merlot or cabernet sauvignon. But tempranillo, made with grapes of Spanish origin, is increasingly accessible to even those who like to stick to Oregon wines.

Tempranillo is the most-planted grape variety in Spain. It produces rich, darkly colored wines that are renowned the world over. Some of the best ones come from cool-climate growing regions where nighttime temperatures are dramatically lower than those in the daytime. Those conditions help the wine develop greater acidity, which adds balance and structure.

That familiar-sounding growing requirement is what got Earl Jones, owner and general manager of Roseburg’s Abacela, thinking about growing the grape in Oregon in the 1990s. Before he became a leading producer of American tempranillo, he was a research scientist who had developed a deep fondness for Spanish wines during his extensive travels in Europe. He couldn’t understand why no one in California had made a significant investment in them. Many French grapes had easily made the transition to a new country. Why couldn’t Spanish varieties do the same?

Climate and site critical

When Jones started looking into that question, he got his answer relatively quickly.

“In Spain they grow tempranillo in a different climate than exists in most parts of California,” he says. The growing season in many of California’s prolific wine regions is nine months, not the six and a half months needed for quick-ripening tempranillo. “The other aspect of climate that’s important is that even though it’s really hot here in Southern Oregon in the day, at night it will cool back down into the fifties.” That also was necessary for producing age-worthy, award-winning wines.

Jones put his research skills to work investigating what part of the country would be best suited for growing tempranillo and other Spanish grapes. He and his family decided to try their luck in Oregon.

But not just any site would do. Within one region or even a single vineyard, different sections can have vastly different microclimates, soils and sun exposure. All of those things affect what types of grapes will express themselves best. Jones and his wife, Hilda, knew they needed a place with well-drained soils, good sun exposure and close proximity to a valley to pull down colder air and minimize the risk of hard frosts. The perfect site was on the outskirts of Roseburg in a spot they called Fault Line Vineyards.

They planted their first vines in 1995. Two years later, their tempranillo won its first international award — and the American version had made its first notable appearance on the world stage.

Since that time, Jones has inspired growers all over the country to follow in his footsteps. He estimates there are 100 tempranillo producers in Oregon and as many as 200 more in Washington, California, Texas, Virginia and New Mexico. Around 70 percent of the plantings in Oregon are in the southern part of the state. Scattered vineyards in the Willamette Valley and Columbia River Gorge also are dabbling with the grape. The 2017 Oregon Vineyard and Winery Report puts the total harvested acreage of tempranillo at 319 and the value at more than $2 million.

Young wines need to breathe

The Australian-born Mark Nicholl with William Rose Wines in Eugene released a tempranillo for the first time earlier this year. He agrees that the hard work Oregon vineyard owners are doing to identify the best sites for tempranillo is yielding rewards.

“Young tempranillo can be a very astringent wine, and those astringent characteristics are being tamed and handled very well, so obviously we’ve got the right climate,” he says. “If the climate is right for a particular variety, it’s going to be fun to have a play with.”

Nicholl describes tempranillo as a very intensely colored wine (“The grapes have got quite a thick skin and the juice colors up really quickly”) that typically has black fruit on the nose. On the palate, expect red fruits such as cherry or raspberry. Licorice and spice are common flavors as well. “Depending on the winemaking style, the variety can handle a good whack of an oak stick, so you might get some vanilla or coconut characteristics.

“As a young wine, tempranillo can be very tannic in the mouth, very rich and coating,” adds Nicholl, who also owns and operates the Oregon Wine LAB tasting lounge in Eugene. Because of that tannic tendency, he says wines younger than eight years likely will need to breathe for a while before being consumed.

Ideal food pairings vary by where the wine was made and the extent of its exposure to oak. Generally, Nicholl likes to serve it with firm cheeses (such as Manchego), medium to sharp cheddars, and red meat fresh off the barbecue.

“The lighter styles are great at cocktail hour,” says Jones at Abacela. “The Spanish are famous for their tapas, which are little light snacks served after 6 p.m. Almost all of the red wine that’s drunk at that time is tempranillo.”

“Oregon, for me, is a wonderful spice kitchen,” Nicholl says. “If I was a chef, I would have this wonderful pantry of ingredients to work with, and that’s a metaphor for grapes. We have great pinot noir, riesling (and other grapes), but right now tempranillo is having its moment in the sun and it’s fantastic.”

Writer Sophia McDonald Bennett can be contacted at tastings@registerguard.com.

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